Geochemical Occurrence of Rare Earth Elements in Mining Waste and Mine Water: A Review

Pyrgaki, Konstantina; Gemeni, Vasiliki; Karkalis, Christos; Koukouzas, Nikolaos; Koutsovitis, Petros; Petrounias, Petros

doi:10.3390/min11080860

Cited by 25 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 113 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Even though the REE recovery from SM generated positive impacts in several categories, high freshwater eutrophication-resulting from the release of phosphate to the water-and ionizing radiation potentials could be encountered during the processing. In order to minimize these negative impacts, the reuse of other SM including fly ash, coal ash, and bauxite (red mud) could be considered, as they were demonstrated to be promising materials for REE extraction [66].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainable Production of Rare Earth Elements from Mine Waste and Geoethics

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The vulnerability of the rare earth element (REE) supply in a global context of increasing demands entails important economic and political issues, and has encouraged several countries to develop their own REE production projects. This study comparatively evaluated the production of REEs from primary and secondary resources in terms of their sustainability and contribution to the achievement of the Geoethics concept as responsibility towards oneself, colleagues, society, and the Earth system. Twelve categories of potential environmental and social impacts were selected: human health toxicity, global warming or climate change, terrestrial and aquatic eutrophication, acidification potential, particulate matter, resource depletion, water consumption, fresh water ecotoxicity, ionizing radiation, fossil fuel consumption, and ozone depletion. The results showed that the environmental impact of REE production from secondary sources is much lower relative to primary sources. A comparison of conventional and non-conventional REE resources showed that significant impact categories were related to particulate matter formation, abiotic resource depletion, and fossil fuel depletion, which could result from avoiding the tailings disposal before reuse. Based on these findings, governments and stakeholders should be encouraged to increase the recycling of secondary REE sources with Geoethics in mind, in order to balance the high demand of REEs while minimizing the overexploitation of non-renewable resources.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainable Production of Rare Earth Elements from Mine Waste and Geoethics

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Since REE are present in low concentrations in mining wastewaters and acid mine drainage, adsorbents such as cellulosic materials and ion exchange materials could be more useful as part of extraction/preconcentration and/or purification processes. Pyrgaki et al [136] in a recent review described mining waste and mine water as promising sources of REE if their extraction is coupled with the simultaneous removal of toxic pollutants. These authors reported very high concentrations of ∑REE+Y of 77 to 1957.7 µg/g in coal combustion ashes, bauxite residue and phosphogypsum, and 1.6 to 24.8 µg/ml in mine discharges from different coal and ore mining areas around the globe As the primary and secondary REE ores are getting depleted, alternative sources such as the recycling of e-waste for a substantial recovery of REE gained prominence in recent times [140].…”

Section: Acid Mine Drainagementioning

confidence: 99%

Potential Future Alternative Resources for Rare Earth Elements: Opportunities and Challenges

Balaram¹

2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Currently, there is increasing industrial demand for rare earth elements (REE) as these elements are now integral to the manufacture of many carbon-neutral technologies. The depleting REE ores and increasing mining costs are prompting to look for alternative sources for these valuable metals, particularly from waste streams. Although REE concentrations in most of the alternate resources are lower than current REE ores, some sources such as marine sediments, coal ash, and industrial wastes like red mud are looking promising with significant concentrations of REE in them. This review focuses on the alternative resources for REE such as ocean bottom sediments, continental shelf sediments, river sediments, stream sediments, lake sediments, phosphorites deposits, industrial waste products like red mud, and phosphogypsum, coal, coal fly ash, and related materials, waste rock sources from old and closed mines, acid mine drainage, and recycling of e-waste. Possible future Moon exploration and mining for REE and other valuable minerals are also discussed. It is evident that REE extractions from both primary and secondary ores alone are not adequate to meet the current demand, and sustainable REE recovery from the alternative resources described here is also necessary to meet the growing REE demand. An attempt is made to identify the potential of these alternative resources and sustainability challenges, benefits, and possible environmental hazards to meet the growing challenges in meeting the future REE requirements.

show abstract

“…For underground coal slurry, the physical properties change significantly from one mine site to another [22]. It is essential to understand the coal slurry's chemical compositions for the chosen of flocculent.…”

Section: Composition Analysis and Slurry Viscosity Testmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The major positive ions (Ca 2+ , Na + , Mg 2+ , K + ) and the major negative ions (F − , Cl − , NO 3 − , HCO 3 − , SO 4 2− ) are detected in the coal mine water [20,21]. Water hardness is an index to evaluate the alkaline elements in the water solutions [13,19,22]. In order to avoid any water pollution, essential methods should be adopted to remove these ions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Coal slurry water is treated at the original source. However, the effectiveness of the flocculent depends not only the chemical characteristics but also on the mineral ions [22,27]. Laboratory experiments are carried out to investigate the influencing factors on the performance, such as flocculent dosage, pH values, ion types, stirring frequency.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Combined Treatments of Underground Coal Slurry: Laboratory Testing and Field Application

Zhang

Dong

Zhao

et al. 2021

Water

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

During the coal mining process, underground water is generated from the longwall face. In the meantime, the coal cutting process would produce coal particles. Coal slurry is generated in the underground working site, especially for water abundant coal mines. The generated coal slurry is treated to prevent water pollution. Due to the extensively existing of the suspended solid, the traditional process method would often introduce new problems. In this study, laboratory testing was conducted to investigate the characteristics, including the particle size distribution of the coal sludge, coal slurry compositions, slurry viscosity and coal mine water quality. In order to improve the coal slurry treatment efficiency, based on the laboratory results, a novel combined treatment of underground coal slurry is proposed. First, the coarse grained coal slurry is process by a vibrating screening machine. Then, the coal slurry containing fine coal powders is processed through a settling pond. The sedimentation results of the coal solid materials are analyzed. The polymer flocculant is also added into the coal slurry to improve the sedimentation. These combined treats of the coal slurry significantly remove the suspended solid and improve the quality of the coal mine water. Based on the laboratory testing, the specific details of the field applications are designed. The key novelty of this paper is the underground background. All of these treatments are based on the underground environment and are capable of being applied in underground workings. From field applications and observations, these novel combined treatments of coal slurry in the underground site are effective. This study provides a novel method to treat the coal slurry, which has innovations from engineering aspect. These procedures are useful for the underground coal slurry treatment, especially for water-abundant coal mines. The normal coal production is guaranteed and less affected by the coal slurry discharge process. Meanwhile, the water pollution problem is much addressed and the damage of coal slurry to the environment is reduced.

show abstract

Geochemical Occurrence of Rare Earth Elements in Mining Waste and Mine Water: A Review

Cited by 25 publications

References 113 publications

Sustainable Production of Rare Earth Elements from Mine Waste and Geoethics

Sustainable Production of Rare Earth Elements from Mine Waste and Geoethics

Potential Future Alternative Resources for Rare Earth Elements: Opportunities and Challenges

Combined Treatments of Underground Coal Slurry: Laboratory Testing and Field Application

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About